Anderson compares and contrasts the three different types of environments in which learning can occur – student-teacher, student-content, and student-student. According to Anderson, and I agree, none is necessarily better than the other as long as “deep and meaningful learning” is occurring. This may seem elementary at first glance; however one must consider such factors as learning styles, time, and the ever-important cost of delivering knowledge.
I am most intrigued by the possibilities of recording material (lessons) to be delivered asynchronously. This would enable the teacher to develop a lesson knowing that the student can interact with the content at his/her convenience and usually as often as needed.
I would like to have seen more in this article about student-student interaction, but that’s probably just the language teacher in me. This article was written about teaching and learning in general, but unlike other subjects, language requires that students speak to each other, particularly when classroom size is over 25 students.
While I have been aware that accessibility to content has become widespread, I had not considered that it puts “a premium value and cost on human based interaction…”
As a teacher of mostly ninth and tenth graders, I was somewhat amused by the “vicarious interaction” in which Anderson cites Sutton that “non-active participants gain from observing and empathizing with active participants. This may be true sometimes, but rest assured that when a ninth grader is a “non-active participant” there is no osmosis of knowledge.
My take on Anderson’s article is that there can be no concrete numbers put to what is the right mix for interaction. Its okay to stick with one method if it works, but don’t be afraid to try something else either.
6 comments:
There's no doubt that we would all like to increase student-student interaction. However, I disagree that a ninth grader who isn't speaking, isn't learning. It's not about osmosis, but rather the "observing". We all learn from listening and some would argue (Krashen) that there should even be a time when we just listen (or take it in).
Dan
That was my attempt at humor. Certainly not all "non-participating" ninth graders aren't learning. Some are absorbing what is going on around them. Others (many) are day-dreaming, sending text messages, etc. and are disengaged from lesson all together. Then it becomes a behavior issue that I must then deal with and learning stops for everyone. In any case, I do agree with you because I know in my own case I have been able to learn a great deal in language just by observing.
Isn't that part of the beauty of the system when technology is integrated, that the daydreamer has to aoccasionally be pulled back in to provide sufficient attention to proceed? A good teacher will do that as well by having the students alternate various small writing, sharing, and notetaking tasks to draw them back into the action... even if it is only temporarily. I always laugh to myself when I see an unusually large or low number of eyes watching me in class. The students' eyes are the window to the teacher's mood!
Doug
Sorry, humor is so often misinterpreted in online communication. That's why I always through in a :) That would look silly in a formal submission, but it's completely acceptable for a blog entry :)
I agree that there is a considerable amount of day dreaming, outright sleeping, and other distractions in class. My classes are lousy with it. Though I do let the doctors check their text messages considering that's how the hospital communicates with them :) It's not uncommon for them to jump up and run out of the room :)
If there's a good answer to stop this behavior, I haven't found it. I agree with Doug when he says that technology can help with this. Of course, it can also bring in other issues.
The best defense we have is to plan for engagement and accountability (sorry for the word choice) in our lessons. This is where authentic and relevant tasks come into play as well as requiring that some sort of product come from the activity (presentation, picture, notes, journal, email, etc...)
Dan
At this point, I would much rather be in a room discussing this verbally instead of online.
Have you all experienced the moment where you've been writing emails back and forth for weeks with someone--perhaps tied to a professional issue--and suddenly you pick up the phone (or Skype) and as you begin to talk with the individual you might wonder why you waited so long to have a "real" conversation?
It'd be fun to meet you guys and chat--face-to-face.
Brett, 9th and 10th are not easy to access. And I'd hesitate to attribute their day-dreaming to "behavior" if by doing so would label them as "mis-behaved". Still, since students have to be in the "system" and have to be "in school" and have to "behave", teachers have little choice but to handle situations in sometimes very "unauthentic" ways.
I taught English to 9-12 for two years in Dallas. I'd have loved to have communicated with those kids using the technology available today--but I'd have to draw new boundaries and lines for when the interactions could take place. Time management needs to be a key component of online technology usage. This is something that has not been addressed much among new users, and those born after 1980.
I am wondering about time management, organization, and mangagement of the information highway itself. Do kids with conditions such as ADD or ADHD manage online or they lost in cyperspace. How do these kids do with surfing the net? Do they get lost?
I asked a group of highschool students, from a local private school that volunteers for my Saturday schoo, what their experience has been. This school uses wireless laptops in the middle and highschool. The kids told me that sometimes they are focused in class and yet others they are surfing the net, answering emails, or just chatting with friends. I asked if this was a problem and the girls said at times it could be distracting and cause them to loose important class information.
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